Exploring responses to the Manchester Arena memorial archives V.6
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A qualitative study exploring families experiences and opinions of visiting the spontaneous memorials following the Manchester Arena incident.
IRAS ID
258760
Contact name
Kate Allsopp
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 9 days
Research summary
On 22nd May 2017, a suicide bomber detonated an improvised explosive device in the foyer of the Manchester Arena, killing 22 people and himself and injuring 239 people. In the week that followed people created spontaneous memorials all over the city which have since been collected, preserved and archived and currently held within the Manchester Art Gallery. Limited research has suggested a potential therapeutic impact of such memorials, but no current research has carried out a qualitative study interviewing families directly affected by the tragic incident about their experiences of the memorials.
The present study will interview up to 20 adult family members (18+), on a one-to-one basis, who lost a relative in the Manchester Arena attack and were invited through the Manchester memorial advisory group via Greater Manchester Police (GMP) to visit the archives at the Manchester Art Gallery. Some of these families accepted the invitation and visited the archives and some families did not. We will interview participants in one-off semi structured interviews, lasting up to one hour, on their views, experiences and opinions of the spontaneous memorials being collected and created into archives and whether they think there could be a potential psychological/therapeutic impact. Recordings will be transcribed and thematic analysis will be used to draw themes from the data. By gathering qualitative data from bereaved families, the study will give insight into the potential psychological and/or therapeutic impact of these memorials/archives and how best to use these in the future.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NW/0239
Date of REC Opinion
1 Jul 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion